And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-15, NASB)

Satan Would Rather You Not Want To Learn

You see in the confusion of this growing apostasy within mainstream Christianity the Devil would rather people be lazy and not even and use the Scriptures to discern past his many lies. In fact, this is exactly the same ting he has been counting on of centuries now. He’d prefer that you not study and learn why e.g. the spurious Spiritual Formation aka Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM)passed off by Quaker mystic Richard Foster through what I see as The Cult Of Guru Richard Foster has no place in Protestant theology in the first place.

Satan’s been quite happy using his Emergent Church, the Trojan Horse he has used to bring this CSM into the mainstream through popular Emerging Church icons like Brian McLaren and Rob Bell, to go about deceiving the undereducated—and thereby gullible—Christians for years now. Dr. John MacArthur is quite right when he says, “The Devil’s not fighting Christianity—[so much as]—he’s joining it.” Satan has been deceiving the American Christian Church from the inside since at least the early 1900’s.

And men and women, it‘s growing worse and worse all the time. Do you remember this Scripture — But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and — didaskalia daemonion (literal Greek) — doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1, NASB). Now how do you suppose this can come about except that people simply stop studying the Bible for themselves and instead start going by what others tell them to believe. In particular to do what “feels” right. Yet this is exactly what happens to the person who is not willing to make the effort to learn, and who instead says — “I don’t need to be taught anything; I have the Holy Spirit and He can teach me what I need to know.”

Really now? Notice that our text above informs us when the Lord ascended to Heaven — It was [Jesus Christ] Who gave some to be Apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers. We need to ask why would God do this if everyone with “the Holy Spirit” would no longer need to be taught? So what is the function of these people; the next three verses provide the answer:

 

to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ — [His Church] — may be built up, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. (Ephesians 4:12-14).

Well, I don’t think it’s too hard to see that we are nowhere near unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God nor are we very mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of God. One need to look no further than at the world of Christian bookstores, with their over-priced merchandising; the so-called Christian television networks; the world of Christian “entertainment,” and the semi-pelagian pseudo-Christianity of postevangelicalism to see we’re caught up in — the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

The truth is there is little of any of the above that ethically I could even recommend to you. Rather the majority of the seeker-sensitive playpens in the ECoD are fleshly exhibits of mere infants, [being] tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. And I submit to you that this is a pathetic state in which to find so much of the Church of our Lord Jesus; but, it is O so true to him who has eyes that see. May God have mercy on us all as the 1 Peter 4:17 judgments begin to fall…